PMMA-based electrospun composite fibers for dye adsorption from water

Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and PMMA/poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based composite fibers were produced using electrospinning technique with two different additives; halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and boron phosphate (BPO 4 ). The effect of the additives on the morphology, wettability and dye adsorption properties of electrospun fibers were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), water contact angle measurement and UV-VIS spectrophotometry. The results of SEM analysis indicated that addition of PEG resulted in thinner average fiber diameter and beaded structure. Additionally, it was also observed that incorporating both HNT and BPO 4 to the PMMA solution caused increased fiber diameter which might be due to increased solution viscosity. For PMMA fibers containing 3 wt% HNT, the highest average diameter and water contact angle were measured as 2204 ± 302 nm and 110.29 ± 3.9°, respectively. The produced fibers were tested for the capability to adsorb methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solutions. Dye adsorption capacity of the samples increased by addition of HNT and BPO 4 . According to adsorption capacity results, PMMA/PEG/BPO 4 composite sample containing 5 wt% BPO 4 , with an adsorption capacity of 0.76 mg/g, was determined as adsorbent for kinetic and isotherm studies. The adsorption kinetics were well described by the pseudo-second-order model, and equilibrium data were correlated with the Langmuir model.